its either a rhythm or a headache
by Thego
Summary: messing around with a darker, more violent beck and a bit over-protective andre. a parallel story to that scene in stage fighting. jandre & bade.


"Hey, Jade. Jade!"

"I can't talk-"

"Jade, wait up!" As Andre followed Jade down the halls of Hollywood Arts, trying to catch up to her, an oddly bright color on the side of her face caught his attention from under the shadow of her hair, which she had used to cover her face since she got to school.

"No, I've got to-" she broke of as he suddenly turned her and pinned her against the lockers with brute strength, causing her to yip in shock. "ANDRE!" she shouted angrily, not bothering to try and free herself. It wouldn't matter; he had already seen what she had been trying to hide anyway. She scowled and focused her attention on a spot at the upper left corner of her vision so she wouldn't have to make eye-contact as he looked over the purple mark below her eye.

"What's this?" he touched her black eye with two fingers, seemingly trying to figure it out.

"...What does it look like?" Jade replied, feeling _way_ too vulnerable right now.

"I meant how'd you get it?"

Jade shrugged his arms off her shoulders without resistance and sidestepped in the direction of the stairs. "Oh... just... a scissor malfunction," she said with a nod. Sure, the lie was pretty lame, but maybe if she sold it with enough confidence...

"I... I don't think scissors can malfunction like that...," Andre squinted, thinking about it.

"Yes they can to! What do you know about scissors?" Jade shot back defensively, clearly getting worked up about this.

Andre took a step towards her, his face becoming serious. "Did Beck do that to you?" he asked bluntly. He watched as she stole a quick glance at his face before staring at the ground at his feet for a moment and swallowed. She wasn't going to lie. Jade never lied unless she felt an absolute need to. So instead of answering, she shifted her gaze to watch the ceiling once more, ignoring the question. "Did Beck do that to you?" Andre repeated, looking straight at Jade as he spoke.

Jade gritted her teeth and took a hand off her eye, looking straight into his dark brown eyes as she leaned towards him. "Yes," she hissed, casting a glance around the hallway to make sure they weren't being overheard before continuing, "but it's not a big deal. We-" she broke off, looking increasingly uncomfortable.

"You..." Andre prompted.

Jade scowled. "Look, you can not tell anyone about this," she said, putting an emphasis on the words 'cannot.' "Especially Beck."

Andre nodded. "I won't," he said, backing off. Jade watched him carefully as she backed away as well, preparing to head to class. "BECK!" he shouted seconds later. Jade shouted in alarm, racing after him. She had to give him credit though, he was a fast runner.

"Nobody bother Beck!"

"'Ay, Beck!"

"Andre! Will you please stop?!" she begged as she followed him, knowing he was drawing too much attention to himself. "He ate a bad taco!" she explained as she ran past a group of bystanders before trying to pick up her pace. After a few minutes of this, it looked more and more like this race was a lost cause. Slowing her pace, Jade stopped by the doors to the Blackbox to catch her breath. Andre was probably already out by the Asphalt Cafe. What's done was done. Now she just needed to figure out what to do next.

* * *

Ten minutes later, after carefully applying more makeup to her black-eye to make it less noticeable and deliberately letting her hair fall in front of that eye, Jade was walking out into the Asphalt Cafe, heading towards her usual table and scowling at what she saw. Tori and Lane restrained Andre as he shot death stares at Beck.

Stalking over, Jade tugged not-so-gently on one of Andre's arms to get his attention before glaring at him. "This is not okay!" she hissed. "I told you it wasn't a big deal!"

"It _is_ a big deal," Andre replied heatedly.

"It is now!" she replied pointedly.

"Andre, come with me. I think we need to talk about this privately," Lane cut in, pulling Andre out of the crowd. Jade took a short breath and folded her arms, refusing to look at anyone.

"What was that about?" Tori directed her question towards Beck.

Beck paused. "Nothing. It wasn't important."


End file.
